If YOU walk down Regent Street right now, you will see it laced with strings of Union flags as part of the jubilee celebrations. Most people, I suspect, will barely register the new decorations. Some will feel a twang of national pride. And some, it seems, will be reminded of fascism. A row broke out online yesterday after people made comparisons between the picture of Regent Street and Nazi Germany. One man really kicked off the debate by suggesting Regent Street should look like that all of the time.
This somewhat dramatic interpretation of what is effectively very large bunting is a prime example of what George Orwell called negative nationalism, which can be just as emotionally intense as its opposite.
